From a Politico article about whether the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission will take the lead in antitrust enforcement against Google: "Now Google is seen as a potentially history-making case — the kind that lawyers at both agencies would love to work on."
This is pretty good insight into how the personal agenda of regulators affects what regulatory agencies do. It's not a "history-making case" if the lawyers decide that Google isn't doing anything wrong and take no action against the company. That won't get their name in the newspapers. And it's unlikely that someone who personally believes that the market eventually takes care of antitrust enforcement on its own would choose to go to work for the government as an antitrust lawyer, unless the person is doing so as a stop before heading through the revolving door to more lucrative employment in the private sector.
Among those quoted in the Politico article are "former DOJ antitrust chief Tom Barnett." From his law firm biography at Covington & Burling: "Thomas Barnett is a partner in the Washington, DC office and co-chair of the firm's Antitrust & Consumer Law Practice Group. He specializes in global antitrust and competition law practice and works closely with the firm's white collar practice on criminal antitrust enforcement and investigative matters. Mr. Barnett recently served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. He headed the Antitrust Division from 2005 to 2008, having previously served in the Division as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Enforcement from 2004 to 2005."
Also quoted in the Politico article is "Makan Delrahim, a former top antitrust lawyer for DOJ." From his law firm biography at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP: "Mr. Delrahim is a Shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and a member of the Litigation and Government Relations departments. Working in both the firm's Washington, DC, and Los Angeles offices, Mr. Delrahim's practice focuses on antitrust, public policy, intellectual property and international trade....Mr. Delrahim is the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, appointed by President George W. Bush in July 2003."
Anyway, it's a message to technology companies out there: don't become too profitable or too useful to consumers, or you might wind up as "a potentially history-making case" that government lawyers "would love to work on."
Disclosure: I own some shares of Google.
